Jack Frost and the Sands of Time
by The Third Biker Scholar
Summary: Pitch rose again, and this time won. The Guardians died. All except Jack, who is given a chance to go back in time and save the world. He must become something new, a new Guardian, to protect the one thing that can save this world. The newly born Jack Frost. (Cover art by SizzlyCrisp)
1. Vanaheimr

There are some fantastic stories for Jack and the Guardians. But not a whole lot of time travel. Here's my shot at it.

Cover art by the very kind SizzlyCrisp on Deviantart.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of 'Rise of the Guardians.' Everything else is mine.

Enjoy!

**_Jack Frost and the Sands of Time_**

Chapter 1

Darkness swirled around the grass like mist on a moor, stormy clouds of grey and purple swirling overhead. Barely any light lit this dim place, seeming to come from the crumpled grass. Islands of grassy earth hung in the sky, a scant few dotted with scraggly trees. The body of Jack Frost was laid out haphazardly on the cold, damp ground of one such island, his staff broken into peices a few feet away from him. His pants were shredded, his blue jacket in tatters that barely clung to his bruised shoulders.

"By Cronos, when Moon-boy messes up, he really messes up, doesn't he?"

At the sound of the odd, multi-toned voice, Jack slowly began to return to consciousness. It felt like he was trying to push his way through cold maple syryp. He found enough energy to try to open his eyes, and blinked as the world seemed to blur in and out of focus. He suddenly became aware of the cold beneath him, the swirling clouds that seemed ridiculously close above him, and one other thing.

He hurt. Like firey hell.

_Everywhere_.

The winter spirit groaned as he tried to move his head and body, checking for injuries. The conclusion was that his body was a bloody mess, literally. He could tell he had some internal bleeding, that was definately more than four bones broken, and from the way the world kept tilting back and forth (despite his laying flat on the ground), he figured that he had a moderate concussion.

"And you're counted dead a second time, lets not forget that. And the entire world with you," the voice said nearby.

"...what?" his voice scratched out, his throat feeling like sandpaper soaked with acid had rubbed it raw.

There was the sound of a short sigh. "This is annoying. One second, I'll have you reversed to a more coherent state of being." Jack heard a finger-snap-

And he suddenly sat up, whole and healthy. "Whoa! What-" He patted himself down, shocked to see that all of his previous injuries were gone. Even his clothes were mended from their torn and ragged state. " ...how did you do that?" He glanced around, seeing nothing and no one in the dark mist surrounding him. At first he worried that he was in some kind of nightmare, but the aura of calm around him said otherwise. It also still begged the question, "Who are you? And where are we?"

There was the sound of a small, soft laugh. "In order; I reversed your time, I'm the Master of Time, and we're outside of your dimension's time, in the Void between Time and Space," the voice said. "I'll explain more about the situation after you're done having your fit."

Jack blinked in confusion. "What fit?"

There was a slight pause, then the voice said one name, a touch of sympathy ringing in it. "E. Aster Bunnymund."

"What about Bunny-"-Jack gasped, memory flooding back to him.

Bunnymund was...oh god, _Aster _was-

Pitch had-

_Oh MiM, no, he had..._

Jack remembered. The war was over. The Guardians had lost.

The entire world had lost.


	2. Nightmares of War

_"Somethings's always coming_

_You can hear it in the ground._

_Swirling in the air, with the rising, rising sound."_

_'Believe', The Bravery_

Chapter 2

Sixty years after Jack had become a Guardian, Pitch had returned. But he hadn't come alone.

Fear was the power source of Pitch Black, and unlike the other Guardians, he could draw power from adults as well as children. So many people were scared all the time; of war, terrorists, biological warfare, cancer, crime, sickness...the list went on. The fear of the prejudiced was especially sweet: they feared what they did not understand, which always turned to mistrust and hate. Hate led those that were hated to be afraid. It was a viscious cycle that fed Pitch's abilities. Armed with these, he had quickly set to work.

The Nightmare King had gone to the darkest places of the earth to gather a new army. He'd reached out to the blackest ghouls and spirits that haunted the unmarked tombs and graves of the world's most horrific wars. He used magic and talismans forgotten by time and dredged through the depths of the Spirit World to call up the worst murderers, killers, torturers, madmen, and cannibals that he could. He gave those awful spirits some of his nightmare-inducing ability, and they swiftly worked throughout the world to gruesome effect. The children who's dreams were touched by these beings were slowly corrupted, driven insane by the nightmares.

The black sand Nightmares were joined by new spirits that had formed at Pitch's bidding. The terrible radiation that had poisoned the earth in Russia and Japan had formed into a hideous creature of yellow, glowing slime that spat toxic clouds into the sky. The rain that fell from them would irradiate the ground, destroying fertile farmland everywhere it went. The creature named itself Chernobyl, and it loved nothing more than destroying everything it touched. At Pitch's bidding, the entire continent of Australia was decimated in a matter of days in the first of a devastating wave of attacks.

The Warren was obliterated. Millions of people died. The Palace of the Tooth Fairy was destroyed a few days later. The jungle and all its creatures were dying of radiation poisoning. Only the extreme cold of the North Pole that could muffle the effects of the radiation protected Santoff Clausen from the same fate.

The pollution that had choked the oceans became a terrible, giagantic squid-like beast that called itself Kraken. It dragged down every ship it could get ahold of. It destroyed every port and city it could reach, killing millions more people. It poisoned rivers and groundwater wells. Millions more died of thirst and poisoning.

There were more deadly spirits and monsters that Pitch had found and brought under his control, so many more. But the worst, were those poor children that Pitch kidnapped for his own personal entertainment. The evil spirits would bring him their favorite victims, and the Nightmare King would work a terrible magic, infusing the children with nightmare sand. Their minds were consumed by terror and madness, their bodies twisting into horrific shapes to become Nightstalkers.

Nightstalkers looked to be 10 feet tall living skeletons filled with black sand and red bones, their faces bone-white and black pits for eyes, their mouths too thin and wide, filled with needle-like teeth. Their hands were little more than long, thin, sharp talons that could cut through stone and steel. They were the elites of Pitch's army, and they preyed on children no matter where they were. Asleep or awake, night or day, the Nightstalkers attacked entire towns and cities, dragging off children of every age. What horrified the Guardians the most was hunting down the dark nests of these creatures, which were always filled to the brim with rotting flesh and little, gnawed bones of children.

Within six months, half the world's children were dead.

* * *

In a terrible twist of fate, the Guardians were now believed in more than ever.

When Pitch had first attacked, the Guardians had rushed into action to defend the children. The rescued children told stories of how they were saved by the magical beings, and more and more children believed. The children being kidnapped and taken by monsters that even adults could see, and then being obviously rescued by beings that they couldn't see, kindled the belief of adults all around the world. For the very first time, The Man in the Moon gave his children the ability to be powered by the belief of adults. The sudden massive surge of belief bolstered the powers of every Guardian.

The Guardians of Hope, Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun were the strongest they had ever been in all of their existance. It had granted them new powers as well.

North could now weild his magic in a much stronger form, carrying the staff of his wizard teacher, Omric Shalazar*. He could fling spells of power all over the battlefeild, and even work large amounts of healing and purifying magic. The former bandit now wore shining red and white armor, and his swords grew in size to match his new strength.

Bunnymund now wore light armor as well, and his boomerangs grew in size too. They became five feet long, as strong as tempered steel, and when he threw them, he could cut down hundreds of Nightmares at a time. At the others insistance, he now carried five wicked daggers as well for close range combat. He could also summon vines and trees out of the earth, trapping and ensnaring enemies and dragging them down to be crushed into the earth.

Toothania's feathers became as tough as armor, and she weilded a bow that paired with an endless quiver of exploding arrows. Her magic could now unleash sonic attacks that could shatter the Nightmares and Nightstalkers' sand.

The same boost in power applied to their helpers as well. The elves and yetis of Santoff Clausen became much more humanoid, the elves gaining full human intelligence. They trained with swords and arrows, the better to defend the world's remaining children. The 26 golems that had survived the Warren's destruction grew as tall as skyscrapers, their shape changing to that of giant humanoid warriors, becoming more powerful and harder than any metal. The tiny tooth fairies became the same size, speed, and strength of their Queen Toothania, and trained with the elves in weapons and martial arts.

But one could argue that the biggest changes belonged to Sandy and Jack. Sandy's dream sand took the form of birds, swooping and diving, making it much harder for any of Pitch's creatures to catch or corrupt them. He formed giant mythical creatures from his sand to fight the Nightmare hordes, and many children were saved by unicorns, griffins, pegasi, centaurs, wizards, and even giant dragons of golden sand. Sandman's own body changed into that of a full sized adult, his robes changing to gleaming golden armor as his sand cloud changed to a flying galleon ship. Nearly all the world saw the Sandman as a protector, and his form shifted in response.

Jack underwent changes as well. He too grew taller, gaining nearly a foot and half in height, his white hair growing long enough that he pulled it back into a low ponytail. His hoodie was traded for a blue leather coat that was covered by light silver armor, with dark blue cargo pants that were taped tight around his calves and ankles. Bunnymund had taught Jack his martial arts, and now the winter spirit wore tight white wrappings on his feet, just like his teacher. His staff was now lined with silver and blue diamond-ice, the strongest, hardest, coldest ice Jack could create.

Sandman taught Jack to refine the shaping magic with his ice, forming icy beings that became the best defence against the Nightstalkers. Jack formed ninjas and knights, pirates and cowboys, ice cannons and catapults, his creations making the children smile and beleive more than ever. His own ice powers grew so much that he formed a permanent fortress of ice in the mountains of Tibet, as a refuge for the children they rescued and their families.

After the first battle with these new abilities, Pitch never appeared on the feild of battle again. He stayed to the shadows and darkness, always running whenever the Guardians came for him.

* * *

* Went bookverse here. Omric Shalazar was the Last Atlantian, a powerful wizard that founded Santoff Clausen and taught Nicholas St. North all he knows of magic.


	3. Fallout

_"I'm waking up to ash and dust_  
_I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust_  
_I'm breathing in the chemicals_  
_I'm breaking in, shaping up, checking out on the prison bus_  
_This is it, the apocalypse."_

_'Radioactive', Imagine Dragons_

Chapter 3

For a while, it had looked like they were going to win.

Bunnymund's golems succeeded in killing Kraken, taking heavy losses in the process. Only 9 golems were left after that battle. With the help of Jack's army of ice warriors, they stopped Chernobyl, and lost the last golems. The Nightstalkers were beaten back by the Faires and Elven armies, and Jack's ice army. And by the grace of a miracle, North had found a way to banish the evil spirits and ghouls back to the Spirit world with the use of his own magic.

But then Pitch had his most diabolical idea yet. After all, fear exists in the one place no one can escape from; the mind. He infested the minds of politicians around the world with fear and apathy. He spread paranoia in their thoughts and sowed dissension in their ranks. Instead of working together, reaching out to help each other, the nations of the world began to shut their borders and ready their war machines. The Guardians had tried everything to stop this and bring peace, even trying to have Sandman stay with them to try and purge the nightmares from their minds.

This backfired horribly, just as Pitch Black had planned. He whispered into the politicians and generals' heads that the Sandman was trying to manipulate them, trying to control their dreams and thoughts. What right did some children's fantasy have to run rampant in their heads? The scheme worked all too well, and soon tension around the world reached a terrible point. The fear became too great.

The world's leaders turned to the nuclear weapons to destroy the bases of their 'enemies.'

They ended up just destroying each other.

Cities burned, forests burned, ports and rivers burned, capitols and refugee camps burned. Everything that wasn't in the absolute middle of nowhere burned. Billions of people died. The Guardians did what they could, rescuing and evacuating children and their families, but it wasn't enough. They could barely save a fraction of those that cried out for their help.

All of this horror and death occured within two years time, from Pitch's return to the nuclear winter that now blanketed the world.

* * *

Jack, Sandman, Toothania, North, and Bunnymund ran with all of the humans left alive that they could find, and fled to Jack's fortress in the bleak mountains of Tibet. What had been created as a haven against Pitch was now the last bastion of humanity and any spirit that could reach them. Nature spirits barely made it in, most dying despite the Guardians' help. Other holiday spirits were so devastated by the loss of their peoples' that they couldn't recover; even more spirits were lost. Those that did survive stayed within the walls of the Winter spirit's fortress, not daring to try and step outside its safety.

Less than 13,000 souls filled the cold halls, all that was left of 7 billion people. North, Sandy, and Toothania continually scoured the globe, searching for more people, but each day they came back empty handed. Tooth's fairies and North's elves kept watch over the children as their faithful guards, and the yetis permanently manned the defenses of the base.

Jack was complimented on his architectural skill in building this palace of ice, that he named Snow's Hall. Housing wasn't an issue, since the fortress was huge with thousands of rooms, but food was. In the hard, rocky soil of the Himalaya's, it was almost impossible to grow anything. Bunnymund, however, could easily take care of that. Aster's nature magic could make food grow, springs gush from the earth, and the ground soften and turn to fine soil. The brilliant Pooka also built special mirrors and windows that would amplify any light they found into the full light of day, the better for the plants and animals to grow.

It was cramped, cold, and forever cloudy from nuclear winter, but they could make it through. Already, Bunnymund and North were researching ways to recover the world. Hundreds of people helped, researching and experimenting on the soil and water to try and clean it of the radiation. The last remaining spirits worked harder than ever to soak their energies into the land and water, anything that could sustain life, in the hopes of one day restoring the Earth.

* * *

When the world ends, it tends to give people perspective. Such as saying what you've always wanted to say to another. After how they met (which resulted in the Blizzard of '68), and how Jack became a Guardian, the Winter spirit had all but given up on confessing to the Easter Bunny about the rather large crush he'd had on him. But when things had gone so terribly wrong for the world, it had been a giant wake-up call to both Guardians. Jack finally worked up the courage to talk to Bunnymund, and the Pooka had finally sat down and figured out his own feelings toward the young spirit.

It took five attempts, three blow-ups, one fist-fight, and two very awkward dates before things were settled down. Jack and Aster finally became a couple, to the joy of all the spirits and the vast majority of humans of Snow's Hall. (Sandy especially got drunk off his cloud on the last of the eggnog, as he'd won the bet with Tooth and North. Toothania was still calling dibs for the wedding date, which was still up for grabs in the betting pool.)

* * *

And for 32 years, there was peace. Not a grain of nightmare sand was seen in all that time, nor stirrings from Nightstalkers, evil spirits, or monsters. The children slept as peacefully as could be expected, and eventually had little to no nightmares at all. It was as if Pitch Black had vanished from the earth. Tooth even put forth the theory that since they were the only humans left, the only beings left that Pitch and his minions could feed off of, Pitch wouldn't try to destroy them for fear of destroying his own supply of power.

Toothania was wrong.

Pitch had decided to let them live while he chased down any survivors he could find. The search had entertained him for a while, but now, none are left. And the madness that he fed to his minions had leached ever deeper into his mind. One could actually blame North for this. With so much infected nightmare sand returning to him when the spirits had been banished, Pitch had been forced to absorb it all. And the dark spirits had left a terrible stain on the black sand. It now was infected with madness. The nightmare sand was constantly corrupting an already dark mind.

Now, Pitch Black had gone insane.


End file.
